Almost Christmas

 

Just two more sleeps until the 25th. My list of things to accomplish has plenty of items ticked off of it, but there are still a few more things to do. There is time to read and to look at the twinkling lights on tree and mantel, and to enjoy this beautiful season of anticipation. 

We have enjoyed some lovely sunny days where strong shadows cast highly defined shadows into the rooms. On Sunday afternoon we had a casual lunch with friends. This morning rain drips steadily. Temperatures are forecast to drop in the next few days and there is a strong likelihood of snow. 

Our Christmas celebrations will be confined to family as the new variant rages across the globe. We have sadly canceled our trip to the mainland after Christmas to see my parents and siblings. We're encouraged to keep our gatherings small. 

I spent a few delightful hours creating a few farm animals for Cora's stocking. What fun to play with fabric and to add the little embroidered and stitched details. She's taken her first steps this week. 

I'm looking forward to watching a Christmas movie or two in the next few days. Christmas in Connecticut is a favourite, as is The Shop Around the Corner, and It Happened on Fifth Avenue. Old movies just seem to fit the mood for me. Do you have any Christmas movies you enjoy?

Last evening Tim helped me decorate the ginger cookies I baked awhile ago. Decorating is not my forte, so it was lovely to have company and to do it together. It didn't take long at all. 

Our church sent out this Advent prayer:

 

"God of the long and aching wait.

This year has swelled with the grief and longing and loss of many. We want so much more than the present condition of this world. Where are you? There are seasons where it becomes difficult to believe in your nearness. Would you make it known to us now? That as we carry each other through this season, we would find the miracle in the mundane, tiny sacred flashes of good as we wait for a healing that lasts. 

Help us to dream. That we would find even our prayers grow large in this season, asking for those things which have seemed too good or naive. Help us to dream, not that we would pine for some mirage of how things used to be, but that we would hold space for visions of life where justice can breathe, where power is mobile, and where liberation leaves no one behind. 

Come, God. And we will wait."

I wish you all a most merry Christmas and hearts full of joy and love.